• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, June 18, 2018

According to the Horowitz study ‘State of Pay TV OTT and SVOD’, written by Andrew McDonald, 71% of 18- to-34-year-olds subscribe to a traditional pay TV service, compared to 75% of 35- to-49-year-olds and 81% of TV viewers ages 50 and over. 70% of satellite and fibre subscribers and 62% of cable subscribers said that their service is worth it, while between 8% and 13% said their pay TV is not. 

By comparison, 91% of Netflix subscribers said that Netflix is worth the money and 83% said Hulu is worth it. Digital pay TV providers Sling TV and Hulu with Live TV also fared better than traditional pay TV, with 79% of Sling TV subscribers and 77% of Hulu with Live TV subscribers rating their service as ‘worth it’.

The survey asked how interested TV viewers would be in either switching or subscribing to a ‘skinny bundle’ service. 48% of pay TV subscribers expressed an interest, rising to 58% among 18-34 year-olds. 93% of those interested in over-the-top pay TV services cited the lower cost as a key factor.

Adriana Waterston, senior vice president of insights and strategy for Horowitz, says “The majority of subscribers to over-the-top services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime are also multichannel subscribers; a smaller percent of them are cord-cutters and cord-nevers.”  

“The new dMVPDs compete directly with traditional providers by offering linear television, including sports and local channels in many markets. DVR service, and other elements of traditional multichannel, and, for a lower price and with the app-driven, consumer-friendly OTT experience has transformed consumers’ expectations about how and where they can access their content.”

“It is incumbent on traditional players to continue to assert their value proposition at the same time as they pivot their businesses to serve consumers’ evolving expectations.” concludes the report.

For additional information  from “digitaltvEurope” please visit here.